The present invention generally relates to cartons for holding and dispensing dispensable material. More specifically, the present invention relates to cartons having a closure for closing and sealing the dispensable material in a bag.
Conventional cartons typically accommodate a bag, a liner, or other container used to store food products (e.g., breakfast cereal, crackers, etc.) or other dispensable material. Conventional cartons typically have a top panel formed from one or more flaps that are separable to open a top portion of the carton. The bag in the carton can then be opened and the contents of the bag dispensed through the opened carton top. Frequently, the entire amount of food product contained in the bag is not consumed in a single serving and the bag must be resealed to preserve the remaining food product for subsequent use. A disadvantage with this type of packaging is that once the sealed bag is opened, it can be difficult to reseal the bag in an airtight manner necessary to maintain freshness of the food product.
In order to close a conventional bag after the sealed top end has been opened, the user will typically fold the opened end of the bag over onto itself one or more times. Closing the bag in this way is awkward. Oftentimes, the user will simply stuff the opened end of the bag down into the carton without regard to properly sealing the opening. In humid climates, in particular, exposure of the food product to air quickly compromises the freshness of the food product. Furthermore, as additional serving portions of the food product are emptied from the bag with each use, it becomes more difficult to effectively close the open end of the bag by rolling the bag within the depth of the carton.